Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Dancing Arabs
(2002). Both of his novels were written in Hebrew. A popular newspaper col-
umnist for the Hebrew-language daily
Ha'aretz
, Kashua often uses humor and a sense of the
absurd to explain to mainstream Israeli audiences the trials of being Arab in Israeli society.
Authors who emerged in the 1950s and 1960s —Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, Meir Shalev, and
David Grossman, among others — still dominate the Israeli literary world. Yet a remarkably
varied literary scene has emerged around them. Since many Israelis can read works in more
than one language, Hebrew-language Israeli authors are free to focus on the particular experi-
ence of life in Israel and the characters, groups, and feelings found there. Their specialization
leaves the fi eld wide open to exploration and has perhaps advanced the quality of original
Hebrew literature, since “low-brow” tastes in prose (thrillers, mysteries, and romances) are
already largely met by translated material from abroad.
FILM
The history of Israeli fi lm has parallels with the history of Israeli literature. Both fi lm and lit-
erature had a state-building role in the 1930s and 1940s, featured heroic nationalist epics in the
1950s and 1960s, and became hypercritical of Israeli politics and society in the 1970s and 1980s.
Afterward, the tendency was to take an intermediate position and to deal with more personal
issues.
One critical difference between the two media is that while Israeli literature has a strong
audience because of its use of Hebrew and Israeli situations, feature fi lms are extraordinarily
expensive to make and the dialogue of foreign fi lms is easily put into Hebrew subtitles. Some
great Israeli fi lms have been made, but imported competition is far more pressing than in the
fi eld of literature. Israeli fi lm thus exists largely because of government subsidies. Many pro-
ductions offer the kinds of stories shown in other countries. Yet independence from audience
tastes and the predominance of left-wing fi lmmakers have also made it possible to produce
fi lms with a strongly critical bent.
Origins of Israeli Cinema
Israeli cinema goes back to documentaries depicting the Zionist movement's achievements.
Mostly fi nanced by Jewish and Zionist institutions, they depicted the movement's early his-
tory, showing proud Jewish pioneers working the land, often in the propagandistic spirit of
socialist realist fi lms produced at that time in the Soviet Union. The fi rst early fi lmmaker was
Ya'akov Ben Dov, who immigrated from Russia and photographed scenes from the pioneers'
daily lives as well as historical events, such as the British army's conquest of Jerusalem in 1917.
Around that time, Baruch Agadati, a painter, dancer, and choreographer, founded Aga Films
with his brother Yitzhak. Aga Films and Moledet-Carmel Films competed in making news-
reels. These two companies formed the basis of Israel's cinematic industry.
The fi rst feature-length Hebrew fi lm was
Oded the Wanderer
, made by Axelrod and Haim
Halahmi in 1932. This silent fi lm tells the story of a dreamy child who loses his way during a
class trip. His attempts to fi nd his way back to his classmates provide a panoramic view of
Zionist settlement in Palestine. Another landmark fi lm of the period was
This Is the Land
,
Baruch Agadati's fi lm part documentary and part fi ction, made in 1935. It tells the story of
